"Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28)
Come is an interesting verb in English. It assumes a spatial environment, where one person occupies space A and a second person calls out to him or her from space B. "Come over here to B!" The person occupying A must get up and travel to B to fully meet the demands of the word, Come. Anything short of displacing oneself from A renders "come" inert ... and perhaps, unbecoming.
Come is even more interesting than that. In English, one might say, "Come here." The one who responds in the affirmative is said to go. He or she goes. And after the person has gone, it is said of him that he went. Come, go, went ... this can be quite confusing to someone learning English for the first time.
Despite English's inconsistency, the meaning isn't hard to understand. When one cries out "Come!" they are expecting that, if complied with, the Comer will make a geolocation change. The person will stand up. He will begin to move in the direction of the voice crying out.
Come to Christ?
In Christianity, we refer to a new believer as someone who has "Come to Christ." This is an apt and accurate description. But certainly the notion of "Coming to Christ" isn't merely a singular event never repeated ... the invitation seems continual, with daily opportunities to take Jesus up on his request.
The encouragement to "Come" is everywhere in the New Testament. Jesus said:
"Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28)
"If anyone is thirsty, let him Come to Me and drink..." (John 7:37)
"I am the Bread of life. He who Comes to me will never go hungry..." (John 6:35)
"Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from Him Comes to me..." (John 6:35)
"Come, follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." (Matthew 4:19)
Minutes ago, I sat at my desk pondering this invitation from Jesus, to come. I realized I needed to act it out. As I prayed and pondered what it looks like to come to Jesus today – to be with Him, to be unburdened from my load, to be co-yoked beside Him, to find rest for my soul – it crossed my mind to act it out symbolically. What did I do?
"Lord, as you call me to come to you, I must leave A and travel to B where you are. Currently, point A is at my desk in my office. If you are at point B ... let's say at the sink in our restroom ... I would need to stand up and walk there."
That is exactly what I did. I stood up and prayed while I walked from my office to the sink, coming to Jesus where he was. Arriving at the sink, I knelt down, praying and delighting in the presence of the one who said, "Come."
Perhaps, like me, you also need to tangibly experience what it is like to come to Jesus today, to be near him, to be in his presence?
Come, Follow Me
Years ago, I sat in a group of 30 church servants, listening to speaker – Max McLean, from The Most Reluctant Convert – "act out" a portion of the Gospel of Mark. He had it all memorized. Shifting from simple narrator to first person actor, Max walked into our small audience, assuming the character of Jesus calling the first disciples, Peter and Andrew. As Max wound his way through the audience, I suddenly felt his hand firmly on my shoulder: "You, come and follow me." It was as if Jesus was actually there, calling me to follow him, his hand on my shoulder. I nearly leapt from my seat – the thrill of it all! (Of course, this might have broken the artistic moment, so I refrained ... but it was hard).
Today, Jesus is calling you and me ... to Come. The question before us is, will we?